Four Montgomery County school districts list candidates for May 6 elections

Brian K. Domingue

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, March 25, 2000

Unless a late write-in candidate files to run for election Monday, four of the school board trustee races in Montgomery County are ready for voter consideration.

Ten seats are up for renewal through the Conroe, Willis, New Caney and Splendora school districts. Six of the incumbents are running unopposed and if no other candidates sign up to compete by 5 p.m. Monday, those seats likely will be stricken from the May 6 ballot.

The other four contested races, three in Conroe and one in Willis, have three incumbents fighting to stay on their respective boards; one race, for Conroe ISD position 3, has three new candidates vying for the seat that will be vacated by state representative Ruben Hope.

The candidates for the seat as they will appear on the ballot are Mel Brown, who holds five college degrees, the highest being a Ph.D. in adult education. He is the chief probation officer for Montgomery County.

Second on the ballot for Position 3 is Malcom Jacobson, a director of business development for Azurix, Enron's water subsidiary.

Barbara Watson, a former five-year Conroe school board member who moved to Boston because of her husband's job transfer, is seeking re-election. She is a former teacher and advertising-business owner.

The other contested races in Conroe are for Positions 1 and 2.

Position 1 incumbent Harold Cryar, a former school district teacher and human resources director is being challenged by Annette Robinson, an employee of a Children's World day care facility.

For Conroe's Position 2, 15-year incumbent Rob Eissler is being challenged by local realtor Larry Hughes who has volunteered in various capacities with the school district, twice receiving the Parents Influencing Education award from the school board.

The only contested race outside of Conroe is in the Willis Independent School District where Linda Haley and Mike Holliday have filed for Position 3, which will be left open by Bart Massey who is retiring.

The incumbents running unopposed in the four school districts are:

Willis - Position 1: Robbie Fayle who is completing his first term.

New Caney - Position 3: Barbara Storrs, a retired school teacher. Position 4: Mark Needham, an employee of Houston Lighting and Power. Position 5: Everett Mitchell, an engineer with HL&P.

Splendora - Position 4: David Duke. Position 5: Mattie McKee, a homemaker.

Some of the candidates listed were unreachable before press time.

Candidate filings for the Montgomery and Magnolia school board seats were unavailable due to spring break.